Fennville's basketball victory the right step in road to recovery from Wes Leonard's tragic death

Cory Olsen | The Grand Rapids PressFennville High School basketball players huddle together during the national anthem before the start of their game Monday night against Lawrence.

HOLLAND -- They kept score, and it mattered because it always matters and it was the start of the state tournament and all. Fennville won, 65-54.

For Fennville’s fans and its team, though, it was more about starting to recover from the sledgehammer of grief that slammed into the community when its shining star athlete, Wes Leonard, died in the most surreal way imaginable five days ago.

And for Lawrence, it was more about recognizing that grief, relating to it and becoming a remarkable and honorable tribute itself to sportsmanship and the young man who lost his life.

The game showed us good Class C basketball played in front of a loud, respectful and passionate crowd of 3,472 Monday night at Hope College, but also that a lost 16-year-old life lends perspective in all parts of our lives, including the games our kids play.

It was a lot more than another tournament game.

Not playing was considered in Fennville, especially early in the grief, and why not? Call the 20-0 regular season good, forfeit the tournament game and let the record be the memorial to a teammate. It was suggested.

The Fennville players couldn’t even imagine Friday morning that they could play Monday night anyway.

Another team member, Adam Siegel said he didn’t want to play the game without Wes.

"He was everybody’s friend,” he explained through chest-heaving sobs. “He was our best player.”

The night before simply had been emotional overload. Fennville was 19-0, trying to go 20-0 for the first time in school history. The last game of the regular season went into overtime. Just seconds remained in overtime when Leonard got the ball at the top of the key. With a power step toward the right side of the lane, he slashed with the ball and laid the ball off the glass for what would be the winning points.

His teammates picked him up in joy. He was smiling above them, the town hero, the All-American boy, star quarterback, star point guard, living a moment only the really talented athletes ever get to experience.

Then, in a matter of seconds, he collapsed to the floor. In a matter of minutes, his life was in peril and, before the next day could arrive, he had died of cardiac arrest. An enlarged heart, the doctors said.

The grief in a community of 1,400 people where they don’t have a stop light, or even a McDonald's, was overwhelming, and in this age of social media and Web-first updates, a nation suddenly was captivated by the story of the basketball player from Fennville.

By Saturday morning, Fennville coach Ryan Klingler finally was able to talk without breaking down, and they had a team meeting he said might turn into a practice. It did, apparently, and the team stayed together through the weekend, visiting the Leonard home, going to visitation Sunday.

They had decided to play Saturday morning, and by Monday it was apparent everybody felt it was the best thing.

Bo Kimble, who 21 years ago watched his Loyola-Marymount teammate, Hank Gathers, fall during a game and die of the same exact thing, drove through a snow storm from Philadelphia for the game. He runs a foundation that supports heart disease education, and calls for testing of athletes.

He said playing the games was the only relief his teammates had in the aftermath of Gathers’ death.

"It’s the best therapy they can have,” he said of the Fennville players.

It was best that could happen in this situation. From death and grief, it’s best to move forward.